How many livers can one human have?

Normally, the answer would be one – unless you’re cell therapy startup LyGenesis. Then your answer would be, “hold my beer.”

The startup has developed a novel treatment that can grow entirely new organs inside the human body. They plan to start with the liver, with trials that will see a dozen human volunteers grow up to six livers apiece in the coming months.

💉 Expecto pa-grow-num… LyGenesis’ approach is to inject liver cells from a donor into the lymph nodes of sick patients, a process that reportedly leads to the creation of entirely new mini-organs. Their method has previously proven successful in mice, pigs, and dogs.

• LyGensis estimates it can treat about 75 people from a single donated liver – even if the organ wouldn’t otherwise pass muster for transplantation (due to tissue damage, for example). Roughly 10% of all donated livers are ultimately discarded.
• The startup is also exploring the use of lymph nodes to grow new thymuses, kidneys, and pancreases, but their top priority is livers (which actually have a unique ability to regenerate).

🏥 Zoom out: Nearly 1 in 8 Americans on the liver transplant waiting list die before receiving an organ, while another 1 in 6 are removed from the list because they’re too sick, per data from the Mayo Clinic.